As one will appreciate, composite building products comprising natural and synthetic compositions, can be used in many applications ranging from residential and industrial construction, a multitude of consumer oriented goods, and many other industries requiring certain desired physical characteristics and properties such as, for example and without limitation, dimensional stability in varying thermal and moisture level conditions, varying levels of structural strength, graffiti resistance, recyclability, and other properties appropriate for the application of the particular composite product. Particular exemplary examples of applications for such composite building products can include, without limitation, hoarding boards for construction use, vertical and horizontal sheeting for structural construction, flooring systems, interior paneling such as countertops and bathroom stall walling, cladding construction products, non-sheet building product, sculpted facia, sculpted cladding; posts, columns, and the like.
Conventional processes for forming composite products that can have many of the desired properties include injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, and the like. However, conventional injection molding, blow molding, and extrusion processes have process and product limitations such as excessive weight of the formed composite product and an inability to use highly contaminated recycled materials, which limits cradle to cradle recyclability.
Waste material inflow into resource limited landfills is strained by the voluminous amount of post consumer carpet (PCC) waste produced by carpet distributors and carpet installation contractors and post industrial carpet (PIC) waste produced by carpet manufacturers. While most estimates indicate that carpet waste constitutes only 1 to 2% of all municipal solid waste, this amount still represents a vast quantity of waste that can have a substantial economic and environmental impact.
The carpet waste inflow into landfills is not generally environmentally beneficial. In an effort to mitigate the amount of carpet waste that is shipped to landfills, efforts are being made to manually recycle at least a portion of the carpet waste prior to insertion into the landfill waste stream. Recycling carpet, however, is difficult because its major components are chemically and physically diverse.
Reclaimed carpet waste material has a unique advantage over other recycled materials in that it provides thermoplastic fibrous polymer sources and a high percentage of self contained filler materials within a single waste stream. Most carpets comprise about 20-50 percent weight face fiber, the remainder being backing materials, commonly polypropylene, and an adhesive which attaches the carpet fiber to the backing material. The adhesive typically comprises a carboxylated styrene-butadiene (XSB) latex copolymer, and inorganic filler like calcium carbonate. These materials are frequently incompatible with each other in a recycling operation. For example, the means used to separate and reuse a layer of the backing material might affect the usefulness of the pile material. Alternatively, a chemical used in the recycling process might dissolve two or more of the components, causing them to intermix and form a blend of the two materials having less desirable properties. The application of heat to melt certain materials can have the same effect. Because of these difficulties, to date the amount of carpet reclaimed through recycling operations is limited and only a minimal percentage of the total reclaimed carpet waste may be useful in the production of green technology products. Accordingly, there is a need for efficient recycling of post industrial and post consumer carpet waste to reduce the amount of waste being disposed of at landfills.
A further need is recognized for a scheme that makes effective and efficient use of the reclaimed materials in new composite products. The need for virgin material should be kept to a minimum, in order to decrease costs and increase the amount of old material that is converted into new carpeting. In addition, such broad-based recycling methods can also potentially help to comport with National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) 140/2007 recommendations, which encourage carpet industries to develop sustainable carpet manufacturing and recycling programs for social, economic, and environmental benefits.
The need then is for a reclaimed carpet waste based, foamed composite building product that is light weight, fully recyclable at end of life, and able to incorporate highly contaminated raw material.
Related processes for production are also provided. Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the system for producing the carpet waste composite product will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the carpet waste composite product, and be protected by the accompanying claims.